Slowly Revealed Feelings
by LucyFitzgerald77
Summary: What happened in-between Quick Hardening Caulk and Chicago, also after Chicago.


This takes place in between "Quick Hardening Caulk" and "Chicago", plus during and after "Chicago".

* * *

The words Jess has said several months ago echoed in Nick's head: "It would never work between us because you drive me crazy Miller!" And damn it, she was right. Jess might be the one person he could tell anything to do, the woman he thought about on a daily basis, and dare he think it-the woman he was in love with. But her words were true: he drove her crazy, and she drove him crazy as well.

They had almost had sex. Just a few minutes ago he had been telling her to take off her clothes; words he thought he would never get an opportunity to tell her. They were arguing the whole time they were making out. It was strange, for most people, but for them it seemed completely normal. At least, he thought so. There was just something about Jess that infuriated his every being but at the same time, made him never want to let her go.

But he continued to sit in his room, deciding it was best to just stay in there because if he came out and went to her, there would be no turning back. And that thought scared him. He hadn't felt in control those few minutes in the living room. But now he had had some time to think and the idea of having sex with her seemed like it could be a huge mistake. If kissing her had caused a lot of awkwardness between them, what would sex do to their relationship? Losing her would kill him completely.

* * *

Jess laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She could still feel Nick's lips pressed up against hers and the warmth of his breath on her neck. She had never had such an encounter with a guy before. Her former boyfriends and she either fought or made out, never both. It was an exhilarating feeling; something she wanted more of. It was difficult to stay in her room and not run out to go after Nick and finish what they'd started. But that thought, which had been decreasing rapidly as of late, of possibly ruining her and Nick's friendship momentarily popped into her mind. Then what would happen? One of them would have to move out or else things would be extremely awkward.

The idea of losing him was the only thing preventing her from moving forward into this "new" territory with Nick. She knew there was something there; there was no way they were just friends anymore. She didn't think of them as boyfriend and girlfriend though, but rather something in-between that. And how the hell could you define it? She didn't think they could ever go back to how things were before they had kissed. So what was left to do? Could they try out a relationship? Part of her definitely wanted to see what would happen. She knew Nick would be good to her; he would never cheat.

She decided for now to let things happen as they would happen. She wasn't even entirely sure Nick felt for her the way she had been feeling for him. She needed to know if it was more than lust, because for her, it definitely was. She knew that no matter what, she'd do anything for him. She would support him in the decisions he made, listen to his problems (he had many of them), and just genuinely be there for him. But would he do the same for her? He had so far, in fact, he had been there for her more than any of the guys she had ever been with. She would even go as far as to say he'd been there more than CeCe. But did he love her? Because the feelings she had for him were definitely more than just "like".

* * *

Nick had been super occupied with trying to get things ready for the funeral. Jess had talked to him briefly, mainly to see if he was okay and if she could help with anything. She crawled into the bed in the guest room she was sharing with him. It was a little awkward for her to be sharing a room with the guy she'd almost had sex with not even a week ago, especially since the topic hadn't come up. She still wanted that to happen, but the last place she'd want to talk about it with him was in his childhood home with a funeral about to happen. She turned off the lamp and rolled over a few times before she started to drift off to sleep. She was in that in-between stage of being awake and sleeping when she heard the office door open and Nick tiptoe in the bedroom. She sat up and turned the lamp back on.

"Hey. I didn't mean to wake you," he said softly.

"It's okay," she replied, "Are you all through with the planning?"

"Enough for now. I was nodding off in there so I'm ready to hit the sack. If it's really weird for you, I can go find a couch or chair to sleep on downstairs."

"No Nick, it's fine. You deserve a comfy bed after all you've been through." With that response, Nick smiled slightly and took off his shirt and pants. He laid down on the other side of the bed but got close to the edge so Jess wouldn't know how much he wanted to curl up next to her and hold her in his arms as he slept.

"Goodnight Nick," she said softly and turned off the lamp.

"Night," he said while grabbing one of the throw pillows and putting it over his head.

* * *

They had a two-hour wait at the airport before their flight took off. Everyone was tired and not saying much. Jess was halfway reading a book she had brought, but it was hard to concentrate on it with all the noise from people rushing to their terminals and the sounds of the blenders coming from the Starbucks across from their terminal. Schmidt was killing time getting his hair cut at a barber shop and Winston was getting a bite to eat at Subway.

Out of the blue, Nick spoke up, turning his head toward Jess. "Jess, I don't know how to thank you for everything you did. I mean, you were Elvis for crying out loud. I don't know how I'm ever going to make it up to you."

"You don't have to make it up to me. I care a lot about you Nick. Your dad deserved to have the best funeral he could have."

"Well he did thanks to you," Nick took her hand and held it in his. "I miss him more than I thought I would."

She squeezed his hand. "He cared about you very much. I could see it in his eyes when he came to visit you."

"I just wish I could have told him I loved him. But I guess I didn't realize it then, you know?"

"Yeah Nick, I know. But I'm pretty sure he knew that."

"I hope so Jess. And thanks for making me spend time with him when he visited. I'm never going to forget about that."

"You're welcome. Jessica Day-bringing parents and children together!" she tried to joke.

Nick smiled. "Yeah you're pretty incredible."


End file.
